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db? Satly (Bar MM I w I ■ ■Rr *\. I W j| wmmk ;£? c^<<P* p "' • :.;,aa Morphine frontman Mark Sandman died of a heart attack during a show in Italy, leaving the group with one final, fantastic album. Late Singer's Voice Haunts Group's Best Album Yet By Erin Wynia Senior Writer Boston-grown Morphine came into its own in 1993, its low-tone heavy blend of rock, jazz, blues and avant garde seeping into college radio stations across the world. And with 7 he Night, its latest and last creation, Morphine reaches anew artis- tic peak. Delivered to record industiy monolith Dreamworks mere weeks before the band’s front man, Mark ||| CD Review Morphine The Night fffff Sandman, died from a heart attack while onstage in Palestrina, Italy, the record reveals a mature, sophisticated, yet char acteristically subtle groove. Sandman’s imprint haunts the record, from his first low, hot vocals, which breathe a blanket of thick smoke across the album. Before leaving for Europe last sum mer, Sandman had finished tweaking The Night, Morphine’s only album with out an outside producer, and keeping all the musical decisions to himself paid off. Each song sounds fresh, yet unmis takably Morphine - the mark of an experienced songwriter. The music swings from the sultry blues-tinged sax Disjointed Second Half Drags 'Sweet' Down to Mediocrity By Jeremy Hertz Staff Writer With “Sweet and Lowdown,” Woody Allen again shows the arrogant, boorish side of a confused artist with his por trayal of the fictional jazz guitarist Emmet Ray, yet in the process creates a sweeter film than we’ve seen from him in some time. Much of the credit for the success of “Sweet and Lowdown’’ goes to the two leads, Sean |H Movie Review "Sweet and Lowdown” fff Penn as Ray and Samantha Morton as his mute lover Hattie. Ray has been wounded by women, and he’s not about to submit to another. Only at moments does Ray let his facade drop to show his love for Hattie. Morton delivers an even more impressive performance, deserving of Oscar consideration. Allowing a major character no lines seems a gimmick at first, but Morton emotes so precisely that Hattie’s childlike goofiness soon wins us over completely. This film represents a change of pace in many ways for prolific auteur Allen. His trademark one-liners might be in short supply, but the film’s most impor tant departure is its refreshing focus. Many of this decade’s Allen projects feature such a large cast that the main characters get lost among the cameos. Here, the story stays Ray’s throughout. Still, we view events in “Sweet and Lowdown” through the contradictory, cracked lens of legend and industry Mon-Fri 932-9010 11am-10pm 161 1 /2E. Franklin St on the title track to the party rock of “Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer,” each tune a different incarnation of the same musi cal genius. For the first time, Sandman augment ed the band’s usual trio of bass, drums and baritone sax, forming lush, intricate arrangements for The Night. Sitar (a three-stringed Indian instru ment), organ (courtesy of Medeski, Martin and Wood member John Medeski), piano, cello and female back ground vocals all come together on The Night to fill out the band’s normally sparse instrumentation. Sandman had maintained that artists could produce creative music without added instru ments but decided to give the music a new dimension on this album. So he branched out, moving toward another stage of his musical life. But the record does not play like a premonition of death. Instead, the words and music of The Night conjure thoughts of Marlboro-filled jazz clubs and sexy blues mamas. Morphine could not have hoped to end its run with an album of higher cal iber than The Night. If anything, the knowledge that Sandman died shortly after completing such an accomplished album only leaves a sense of yearning for what more could have followed. The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu. myth. At one point the narrative jumps for ward six months, skipping important events in Ray’s life - ostensibly because little is known of this period. Hattie suddenly disappears from the film; though this unexpected shift is jar ring, its conceit is bold and interesting. Unfortunately, that which follows the shift is neither. Uma Thurman plays Ray’s second foil, Blanche, as the dead opposite of Hattie: intellectual, talka tive, manipulative and unlikable. Despite Thurman’s capable perfor mance, as soon as she enters, the film flounders. With two outwardly repre hensible characters consuming the screen, the story soon bores. Only in its final few scenes does “Sweet and Lowdown” find the proper voice again. Ultimately the film suffers from “Full Metal Jacket” syndrome, whose cine matic victims have stellar first halves and drastically inferior second halves. One might argue that in Allen’s grand scheme, we’re not supposed to enjoy the movie when Hattie is missing - that we should feel as lost and incom plete as Ray does -and if so, he suc ceeds. But that’s a lowdown trick to pull on an unsuspecting audience. The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu. ITHE CIDER HOUSE RULES■S:SSI DIVERSIONS Etc. Screwball Winds Down With Worn-Out Lyrics By Shindy Chen Staff Writer Mediocre expectations run high on the debut from Queensridge-bred rap group Screwball. Anticipated since last November, Y2K, released on “Tommy Boy, ’’leaves the listener a little fatigued, but within the mumbo jumbo are some bangin’ songs and an all right album. Comprised of emcees Hostyle, K.L., Poet and Solo (a.k.a. Kyron), Screwball’s members unit ed for the haul m CD Review Screwball Y2K fff to fame, claim to have been in the solo rap game for more than a decade. Screwball first rapped together on a Poet-produced track called “Set It” in 1993. Since then, the group’s fame has grown with last summer’s jeep anthem “Who Shot Rudy” (attacking New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani), and its latest track, “H-O-S-T-Y-L-E.” The video now graces BET’s “Rap City” daily. Like Mobb Deep and Nas, stories of Queensbridge lace Screwball’s lyrics. Though the year 2000 has been kind to the group, the respect is long overdue. The album is also laced with hard-hit- Bizbuzz Entertainment News Goodbye Snoopy, Goodbye Charles Schulz “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz died on Saturday night after a three month battle with colon cancer. The 77- year-old’s death came on the eve of the final new installation of the “Peanuts” comic strip. Schulz’s illness forced him to retire after nearly 50 years. The final daily Men Are From Mars, Women Are Just Plain Stupid “It goes back to something my grand mother told me when I was a kid. ‘Holden, ’ she said ‘The big bucks are in dick and fart jokes. ’ She was a churchgoer. ” - Holden McNeil Someone has been injecting my television with testosterone. And I like it. Sure, Lifetime is still on the air, and don’t even get me started on this new Oxygen network. But the fact remains, there is a show on the air right this very moment that chugs two beers before every commercial break and ends with footage of girls jumping on trampolines (pronounced, “tra-ma bop-o-leens,” to “The Simpsons” fan). That’s right, folks, I’m talking about “The Man Show.” If you haven’t seen it, I have just three words for you: It’s the best! With segments including “Household Tips From Adult Movie Stars,” and “Movies That Guys Hate,” the show refuses to pander to the weaker sex. In fact, it would seem as though the hosts, Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla, actually try to offend women as much as humanly possible. Why? Because it’s about time men reclaimed our sexuality! And “The Man Show” is not alone. FX has “The X Show,” and USA has “The Happy Hour” (although I’m not l^ntrßAN^O^VMEmflnijuluDlNG/CHAPEI^fIu! DOUBLE JEOPARDY(R) Daily 7:10, 9:30 Sat/Sun 2:10, 4:35. 7:10. 9:30 THE MESSENGER (R) Daily 8:00 Sat/Sun 1:45. 4:50. 8:00 THE BACHELOR (PGI3) Daily 7:00. 9:15 Sat/Sun 2:00. 4:15, 7:00. 9:15 X > lJLaj -^UJ**^**^*^^ STRICTLY BALLROOM M, TONIGHT @ 9:oopm Jj., BMWM| CINEMA PARADISO NV S Friday @ 7:3opm Saturday @ 10:00pm I BUENA VISTA RIHI I SOCIAL CLUB Saturday @ 7:3opm wt. 1“ All movies drown In Carolina Union Auditorium, I ting, grinding beats that strive to estab lish the group as underground rap pio neers. But, Rap fans who strictly listen to the flashy, synthesizer-infused beats in mainstream hip hop may have trouble adjusting to Screwball’s rawness. Over the languid mafioso chords of Premiere’s “Seen it All” and Pete Rock’s “You Love to Hear the Stories” featuring MC Shan, the group relies on loud, per cussive lyric-spitting that lacks clarity and uniqueness. One learns that Screwball 1) has been around for a long time 2) is tough and doesn’t take crap and 3) is proud of the group’s native QB. These sentiments could be felt from just about any rapper with a few rhymes in the industry today. So where’s the underground originality? They say what’s already been said, and the lyrics are used up by mid-album. Also, the group contradicts itself on the track “Attention: A & R Department.” If Screwball wanted to release an album proving its individual ity, they shouldn’t have rapped about hating guest stars, catchy hooks and R&B stylings, because the album is nothing but that. The keeper songs are those previous ly mentioned and Premier’s “F.A.Y.8.A.N.” (“Fuck All Y’all Bitch- Ass Niggas”) in which Poet screams: “I’m ready to smack the shit outta them/ strip appeared Jan. 4, but he continued to draw the Sunday strip until this week. “Peanuts” appeared in more than 2,600 publications in 75 different coun tries. During his career, Schulz amassed more than $55 million despite criticism that his drawings were too primitive. Since Schulz announced his retire ment, collectors have snapped up all the “Peanuts” memorabilia they could find. For his farewell “Peanuts,” Schulz did not change any of the ingredients that had made the strip so successful. Sunday’s strip showed one panel with Snoopy typing on top of his doghouse and the other characters behaving as they did for the last 50 years. Lucy offered psychiatric advice, Charlie Brown fell while trying to kick lb DAVID POVILL DUTY CALLS sure if that one counts - anyone who can sit through an hour with Dweezil Zappa can’t be human, let alone male). And that’s just television. Look at a magazine rack these days. Men are faced with a barrage of breasts on every cover. Men who were previously denied access to naked women because they were too embarrassed to ask the matronly woman behind the Quickie Mart counter for the new issue of Latvian Lesbians can now pick up any of a huge number of magazines chock full of prime-time stars in late-night Skinemax poses. Take Maxim, for example. Maxim, for those who have not yet encoun tered the journalistic masterpiece, is quite a gem. Topsy-Turvy NEW TIMES START FRI„ Feb 18 V “ > jq* Sweet and Lowdown 7.10,9:10, weekends 2:10, 4:20 I GOLDEN GLOBE WINNER \ BEST FOREIGN FILM / THE BEST PICTUM OF THE YEAR /tAV ALL ABOUT MY Ml THER JQl] • umooom jjSl ■o . Once praised for originality, Screwball disappoints rap listeners on its latest album despite a few grinding beats and not tracks. I don’t give a fuck if they gold or plat inum ...” Other hot tracks are: “The Blocks” featuring Nature, “Take it There” fea turing Capone and “That Shit” and “Somebody’s Gotta Do It” featuring Terror Squad (Big Pun R.1.P.) All but one are saved by a producer or guest artist, and all are songs that could have been but weren’t carried on the sole the football, and Linus held on to his security blanket for dear life. Good grief! The Sunday comics just won’t be the same. Marrying Rich Jumping on the “Millionaire” band wagon, Fox will air a show at 8 p.m. Friday called “Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire ?” Fifty bachelorettes, selected based on criteria dictated by the bachelor, will vie for the hand of an unidentified million aire. The show will gradually eliminate women from contention based on the bachelor’s requirements. The grand finale will actually include an impromp tu wedding between the lucky woman and the millionaire bachelor. Based on the premise that maga zines are important tools for conveying poignant messages to vast audiences, Maxim contains no articles more than a page long, unless they are: 1) lists of women’s sexual fantasies, 2) a chronol ogy of the world’s nastiest cases of sex ually transmitted diseases or 3) the story of one man’s quest to find a three-breasted woman. All other stories are half a page or so and include such pearls of wisdom as a comparison of different bite-sized microwaveable snack foods and (I’m not making this up) “How to Train Your Monkey to Be Your Butler” (Because the ape’s opposable thumb sits lower on the hand than does a human’s, they’re good with twist-top bottles, but not pop-top cans.) Doesn’t that sound great? Wouldn’t you want to buy a magazine like that? Don’t you want it so bad that you think Maxim should publish another spin-off magazine just like it and give it a name that only your monkey butler could have thought of? Well, you’re in luck. Pick up an issue of Stuff. Which brings me to an important point. Men, be careful who you choose to champion your chauvinistic revolu tion. If you dumb it down too much f HURRICANE ' t Daily 3:50,7:00,9:50K SCREAM 3 t Daily 3:20,7:10,9:401 . THE BEACH t Daily 3:00,5:20,7:40, IftOQR STUART LITTLE . Dally 3:15,5:10 jKj GIRL INTERRUPTED . DaHy 74)5,9:351 EYE OF THE BEHOLDER . Halt 7:15, *lsl . DOWN TO YOU MAGNOLIA > Dally 4:45,8:45 & . ANGELA’S ASHES t DaHy 4-15,7:36 IR and GALAXY OUESr ► -4 SNOW DAY t Pally 3:10,5:10,7:10, MAE - SCREAM 3 Thursday, February 17, 2000 weight of the group’s shoulders. Screwball’s Y2K pleases, but is a shal low representation of what the guys claim to have been doing for so long. Years of experience should be detectable in the music and lyrics, and Screwball comes up a little short. The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu. Who needs to win a million dollars when she can just marry into money? No word yet on who will pay for the couple’s therapy bills. Swept Away February sweeps has all the networks pulling out the big guns. Among the most notable, “Friends” will air a bizarro episode showing what life would be like for the cast if each had made one deci sion differently. Last week’s “ER” ended with Noah Wylie and Kelly Martin’s characters stabbed by a loony patient. Rumor has it that Martin will breathe her last perky breath on this week’s show. Compiled by Lindsey Zuckerman (e.g. Zappa and Maxim writers), you risk being taken for a preschooler with a big mouth and a load in his pants. So, for the sake of all the real men out there who aren’t afraid to have a penis and do, in fact, have control of their bladders, I beg of you - please, vote Brian Bersticker for student body president. Dave Povill can be reached at pfunk@email.unc.edu. 300 E. Main Street • Carrboro munmnsm 171H418FR moe."(sl2) 19 SA "Moved to: DUKE COFFEEHOUSE: 1 * HOT WATER MUSIC w/Soves the Dov & Small Brown Bike" (S8) 20 SU DONNA THE BUFFALO" (S10) 22 TU REVEREND HORTON HEAT w/Hank Williams III" (sll/513) 23 WE BLUE DOGS ($6) 24 TH LAMBCHOP” ($8) w/ North Mississippi All-Stars 25 ER 20 MILES/Bob Log/Bandway(S7) 26 SA THE CONNELLS" (sl2) w/leisureMcCorkle 27 SU FEAR" ($10) 26 MO KENNY WAYNE 3HEPERD" (sl7) w/8 Stops 7 29TU^JONATHANRCHMAtr^^^^^ 3 FR Countdown Quartet 4 SA Hi Mom! 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Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 17, 2000, edition 1
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